“I didn’t know that,” said Boyd. “Very few people knew that.”
Now Boyd has resigned. According to KOAA, a statement from the church’s elders was read to the congregation during an evening service on Friday night.
“Recently, Brady has insisted that he was unaware until 2024 that Miss Clemishire was 12 years old at that time that Morris had abused her in the 80s,” the statement said. “We believe this to be inaccurate. Brady also made statements in his public address to the congregation on June 8 that the board of elders know to be inaccurate.”
“Brady had nothing to do with Robert Morris’ past abuse. Still, we believe that trust is the currency of leadership,” the statement continued. “When Brady recently told our congregation inaccurately that he was unaware of certain details regarding Morris’ past abuse, trust was broken, and the elders asked Brady to resign.”
The elders said that when Boyd was hired at New Life Church, the elder board of Gateway Church informed elders of New Life that “Morris’ past abuse was known to Miss Clemishire’s family, Gateway elders…and legal counsel.”
“Gateway also informed New Life that Morris had been through a restoration process, and inaccurately that Miss Clemishire and her parents had supported Morris’s return to ministry,” the statement said.
The elders said that based on this information, the board believed that the alleged abuse “was known by the relevant persons, and the search committee concluded that Morris’ conduct from 25 years earlier, while terrible, did not involve Brady and did not impair his fitness to serve as our senior pastor.”
Pastor Daniel Grothe, who has been serving as a associate senior pastor for New Life Church, will step in as the new senior pastor.
This is not the first time New Life Church has been rocked by scandal. In 2006, Ted Haggard, the church’s founding pastor, was fired amid allegations that he had abused drugs and engaged in the solicitation of a male prostitute.
In 2010, Haggard founded St. James Church, also in Colorado Springs. In 2022, new allegations of a similar nature were brought against him.
RELATED: Gateway Church Congregants Take Up Morris’ Offer To Get ‘Money Back’ on Tithes
Boyd took over as senior pastor of New Life Church in 2007 following Haggard’s ouster.
